Audiovisual NES Media

-"Captain N: The Game Master"-

Image provided by The Unofficial Captain N Homepage.

Simply put, this animated program unified the worlds of many different video games into a single, somewhat unusual universe known as Videoland. It dealt with a young fellow named Kevin, who was sucked into a television while playing his NES, and emerged in the aforementioned macrocosm.

Circumstances being what they were, the Palace of Power -- Videoland's capital and basic stronghold of goodness -- was in turmoil, for the evil Mother Brain and her minions had enacted a scheme to gain control of the Palace, and thereby all reaches of Videoland. As it was explained to him, Kevin had been summoned by Princess Lana to help repel the forces of Mother Brain. It seemed the princess chose Kevin due to his superior skill at all NES games. Lana's favor of Kevin, however, begot some resentment among a few other members of her resistance, particularly Simon Belmont.

Anyway, the pool of main characters, consisting of Kevin, Lana, "Kid Icarus", Mega Man, and Belmont, endured a variety of adventures during the animated show's run, most of which entailed journeying to the worlds of other NES games, and encountering familiar villains. Meanwhile, Mother Brain, her two immediate servants, -- King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard -- and hordes of other more common NES enemies would inevitably try to get a hand in matters, usually in the effort to kill Kevin and company.

As one might have expected, this show aired weekly on Saturday mornings. Unlike many other NES related shows, however, "Captain N" was broadcast exclusively by NBC. Most others of its kind were syndicated. I'm fairly certain that this show first aired in 1989, but I ceased watching it before its final broadcast. Thus, I can't say with any certainty that I know when it left the airwaves.

Though "Captain N" was quite an entertaining program, it contained a few less-than-minor inaccuracies that irritated some. From time to time, I fear to say, I was one of those people. The most blatant of these problems would clearly be the fact that the main character of Nintendo's Kid Icarus -- a regular on the show -- was thought to be named "Kid Icarus", whereas the cherub's true name was "Pit". Nevertheless, characterization and inauthenticity alike are forever fortified in the memories of many, if not all, NES devotees, for "Captain N" is likely the quintessential show of its kind.

I am endebted to Andre Bennett for the following:

* An N-Team/Zelda crossover took place later in Captain N's run, as Captain N and company ventured into Hyrule to aid Link and Zelda against Ganon. Link, however, was jealous of Kevin/Captain N.

-"Super Mario Bros. 3"-

This mediocre dramatization showed up not long after the release of its NES counterpart. In essence, "SMB3" can be described as the induction of the "Koopa Kids" into the situation of the "SMB Super Show". The resultant product was about as unoriginal as it sounds, and the seven Koopalings did not add to the show the comedic element they potentially could have. This was the case because, though each one of them had his or her own gimmick, most of said gimmicks were quite boring. "Big Mouth", the derivation of Morton Koopa, Jr. (World 2 boss), as his name implies, never stopped talking, and Wendy was portrayed as a spoiled heiress who griped and complained about virtually everything. The rest of the pint-sized lizards were, on the whole, pretty forgettable, and I have done just that -- forgotten them and their respective gimmicks.

If anything redeemed this show, it was the Koopa honcho himself -- Bowser. He was portrayed as a dominant patriarch, but one who was simultaneously beholden to the wills of his children, and knew that their existence squelched any possibility for his own serenity. I suppose an apt description of him would be the animated, reptilian equivalent of Bill Cosby -- and I am quite the Cosby fanatic.

The principal problem with this show was that it made no improvements on the "Super Show." Most of the characters from the original looked identical to their "SMBSS" selves, and the episodes themselves were all by and large the same scenario. Whatever transpired between the two, this show lacked the creativity of its syndicated predecessor -- or maybe the novelty had just worn off....

Andre Bennett is the benefactor from whom I received the following extrapolation (yeah, I know it's quaintly worded, but I'm trying to come up with different ways of articulating the same basic concept. Sue me.):

* Super Mario Bros. 3 ran one season alongside Captain N. The next season, NBC aired a Super Mario World series, taking place in the game's prehistoric setting, and featuring Koopa and his children as villains again.

-"Video Power"-

This is likely the most obscure of all NES-related television shows, and probably the least successful as well. For whatever reason, -- its unusual time of broadcast, lack of advertisement, or failure to cover more recognized games in its first season -- it failed to accrue a decent following. However, the story of "Video Power" is an interesting one, if only for the alteration it so quickly incurred.

During its first season, "Video Power" was, like the "SMB Super Show", a daily-broadcasted combination of a non-animated portion and a video game-based cartoon. The non-animated segment of this show was a basic informative session, -- dealing with hints, upcoming titles, and spotlighted games -- hosted by "Johnny Arcade," who, despite his Kirk Cameron-esque charm, never became the teen idol the show's producers clearly had in mind. The cartoon, entitled "The Power Team," was basically a rip-off of "Captain N." The Power Team, as the show's corps were called, consisted of the heroes of four B-list games, who would have some nature of encounter with their respective archenemies. The necessity behind the inclusion of Tyrone from Arch Rivals and Bigfoot the talking monster truck remains an enigma to me. Yet, these characters possessed a certain rapport that afforded "The Power Team" a somewhat entertaining element. It never caught on, though.

"Video Power" fared quite poorly in its first season, and its producers clearly would not go gently into that good night, to invoke Dylan Thomas' endlessly popular line of prose. The next year, "VP" returned in an entirely different format -- that of a game show. Every day, the show would begin with a question-and-answer period, wherein members of the studio audience would be called upon to ask Johnny a random video game-based trivia question. If they were able to stump him, the audience member would be given a prize of some sort from the cornucopia available in the set's "mall". However, there was one facet of this period that rather irritated me -- this being that the player would receive no compensation if Mr. Arcade answered the question incorrectly, which he did with some frequency.

Anyway, the four people selected during the Q&A period would become that day's four contestants. They would each go to a respective console, and play the game highlighted that week. After a few minutes of play, the show's judges would determine which two of the four would move on to compete in the next round. But between the first and second rounds of play, the two survivors would engage in a session of trivia that had no ramifications outside of itself. Another round of play would then ensue, and its winner would be permitted to run frantically around the set's makeshift shopping center, grabbing whatever games he/she desired.

Every Friday, the week's four previous winners would compete in a "Tournament of Champions" of sorts. I believe there was also a competition among those champions at the end of the season to determine who was the superlative "Video Power" contestant.

The fate that befell this show, segregating it from any form of success, was relatively simple; it debuted at too late a time. The NES was fading into obscurity just as this show began to catch on, and the videogaming public became addicted to the SNES, to which "Video Power" refused to devote itself. As the NES gradually fell from the public eye, so too did this ill-fated program.


Thanks to Lumaga@concentric.net for informing me that "VP" was, in fact, broadcast outside of the Chicago area.


Loogaroo, whose enthatuation with game shows probably has more than a little to do with his acute memory of VP's scoring system, receives my thanks for the following information.

"- All characters in Video Power's animated cartoon originated from Acclaim-designed games. (Ack! Lame!)

- Before I describe the scoring system to VP's second season, a note on time limits:

The first thirteen weeks, the limit for the first round was 61 seconds (or 1:01 - ha ha!) The second thirteen weeks, the limit for round one was 101 seconds. The second round's limit for both eras was 122 seconds (2:02 - clever)

Anyway, in games that had their own scoring systems (SMB3, Tetris, etc.) Highest scores advanced. In games that didn't, or in sports games, the person(s) who got farthest advanced."

Some more info from (guess who) Andre Bennett:

* The full "Power Team" roster was Max Force (NARC), Kwirk (Kwirk), Bigfoot (Bigfoot), Kuros (Ironsword), and Tyrone (Arch-Rivals). The villain was Mr. Big (NARC).

* Power Team (sans Video Power) reruns are aired occasionally in syndication, once or twice a year, in obscure time slots.